Poroshenko: At first, we will bring back Donbass, then Crimea

Kiev plans to bring back Donbass first, then Crimea, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian TV-channels Sunday, on October 4, according to UNN.

“Further steps – we started believing that they are possible – are the return of Ukraine to Donbass. It is impossible to return Ukraine’s sovereignty to Donbass without it, without elections, without political settlement, without withdrawal of troops, without elections within the Ukrainian laws… I will be fighting for Ukraine’s return to Donbass,” he said.

The next stage, he said, must be Crimea. “First Donbass, then Crimea,” he said.

Poroshenko said the control over the Ukrainian-Russian section of the border must be returned by the end of the year. “As soon as we elect new authorities in Ukraine, the OSCE, which must take control of the uncontrollable section, transfers its functions of control to the Ukrainian frontier guards. This process must be completed by the end of the year, ahead of the constitutional amendments,” Interfax reports the president as saying. In his words, Ukraine will not go on any concessions in the sovereignty over the border.